Business owner plays sleuth after birds stolen from store

Four exotic birds were stolen from the Birds-N-Paradise bird store in Menifee Dec. 4. Photo courtesy of Birds-N-Paradise Facebook page

By Doug Spoon, Editor

The owner of an exotic birds store in Menifee said Wednesday she believes she has identified the suspects who stole four birds from her business and has turned the information over to police.

Lori Lister is the owner of Birds-N-Paradise on Encanto Drive, which has now been hit by thieves three times this year. She said the latest theft was made by a group of individuals the morning of Dec. 4 but was not discovered until the next day. After waiting a week to make the theft public at the request of police investigators, she decided this week to do some sleuthing of her own.

On Tuesday, after examining hours of surveillance video and making inquiries on social media, Lister called several TV stations to make the situation public. She told Menifee 24/7 on Wednesday that multiple people responding to surveillance video posted on Facebook recognized the suspects and provided her information on their city of residence.

"The police are supposed to pick up these people this morning," Lister said. "I got their address from someone who wanted to remain anonymous because they fear they will retaliate."

Law enforcement authorities would confirm only that Sheriff's deputies responded to the business on Dec. 5 in response to a report that suspects had stolen birds from the store while an employee was assisting another customer. No suspects are in custody and no further information would be released because it is an ongoing investigation, according to a Sheriff's Department official.

Lister said that after reviewing hours of surveillance video, she discovered the moment of the theft. She said the person talking to her employee just after the store opened on Dec. 4 was one of the suspects, and that he has been in the store before.

"He never buys anything but he always talks a blue streak," Lister said. "After the theft, this guy kept texting us about a bird he has, asking what to feed it and things like that. I responded and said, 'I know you guys took my birds. I won't press charges if you return them.' He kept on refusing, saying he didn't know the other people and that they just brought him with them to the shop."

Lister said she knew the man texting repeatedly was one of the suspects because she recognized his phone number. How? Because he had given the employee his number the day he was in the shop, asking about birds.

"He didn't know we knew," she said. "I guess he thought we would never believe [the thief] would be him."

According to Lister, the birds weren't discovered missing until the next day. She said three of the birds taken are Parrotlets and one is a Stella's Lorikeet, worth about $1,400. She estimated the value of the four birds at more than $2,000.

In March, Birds-N-Paradise was hit twice by thieves in a four-day span. The first incident was an after-hours break-in March 16 in which suspects stole a number of birds valued at more than $9,000. The second crime took place March 20, when a woman grabbed a 6-week-old baby blue ring neck parrot, put it in her purse and left before being detected. The suspect in that crime was later located and the bird was recovered.